Meryl Streep plays author Karen Blixen (who wrote as Isaak Dineson) in this true story, during the part of her life lived in Kenya, Africa, trying to run a coffee plantation. Her less than satisfactory husband, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Oscar® nominated (but far better in Mephisto), is usually off hunting or fighting in the Boer War.

She eventually becomes close friends with hunter and pilot Robert Redford, who shows her the real Africa from the air. Some of the best scenes shot yet of Africa's wildlife beauty make this also a great nature film in the days before Planet Earth. This is a beautiful adventure and romance both, and Pollack never allows it to get overly sentimental. Pollack's best and most ambitious film. Blixen went on to write many stories of Africa under the pseudonym Isaak Dinesen.7 Oscars®